The Italian for ‘beautiful singing’ is used to describe Italian opera of the first part of the 19th century. Three pre-eminent Italian composers of that era are Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini.

The Phantom of the Opera? It's not just in musicals that you'll find ghosts. Opera as its share of haunted houses too.

Composer Richard Wagner, despite the controversies surrounding his life and political views, bestrides German opera like a colossus.

Heroines who prove to us that opera, as a mirror of our societies, is capable of questioning certain models and gender representations.

Tenors in opera frequently take the leading male role. They are said to have irresistible charm - on and off stage!

A man of the Enlightenment, Mozart is not a political animal; he has a sharp eye on the world around him.

Soprano is the highest operatic voice and the most common in the female range.

Mezzo-soprano, or ‘half-soprano’ is the female voice that stands between the soprano and the contralto.

Working alongside the conductor, director and the rest of the creative team, the opera designer creates the space in which the opera will be ‘set’.

Diverse and dramatic, opera costumes are the first thing to appear in the spotlight, even before the performer has sung a note.

Giacomo Puccini is regarded as the greatest Italian composer of the generation after Giuseppe Verdi.

In partnership with young artists’ programmes in Europe and beyond, OperaVision streams performances, masterclasses and concerts by the next generation of talent, as well as following their stories through a podcast series.

Orpheus has became the emblem of the artist who rises above earthly worries and brings us closer to eternal truths.

Deeply influenced by the music of Richard Wagner, Strauss found his own distinctive style in Salome and Elektra, two bold and poignant operas that demand huge orchestration and voices to match.

Czech composer Leoš Janáček is a unique musical voice with an uncanny ability to suggest mood with just a few notes, an understated but passionate lyricism, and an emotional charge to his operas as powerful as any in the 20th century.

The first ever operas were written around 1600 by baroque composers, including Monteverdi and Cavalieri, who used dramatic text and music to express their stories, which were often based on Classical Greek and Roman mythology.

In opera, characters have more than enough reasons to tip over into madness.

Britten's operas explore profound human experiences that continue to captivate audiences around the world with their touching portrayal of the human condition.

Stanisław Moniuszko is generally regarded as the founder of Polish national opera and the most important composer of the 19th century after Chopin.

Gioacchino Rossini is considered one of the most talented Italian composers of his time and his best known for his comic operas.

Giuseppe Verdi is regarded as one of the greatest opera composers who played a pivotal role in shaping the evolution of Italian opera during the 19th century.

Antonín Dvořák was the first Bohemian composer to achieve worldwide recognition and is considered one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. 

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s work stands out as among the greatest in Russian repertoire.

Baritone, known as barytonos in Greek meaning ‘deep sounding’, is the most common male voice that stands between the tenor and the bass.

For over four centuries, opera has continually reinvented itself by experimenting with new ideas and adapting to evolving tastes.

George Frideric Handel is arguably the greatest composer of the baroque period.

Of the three pre-eminent Italian composers of that era before the advent of Verdi in the early 1840s, it might be said that Rossini displayed more musical verve, Donizetti the greater dramatic aptitude, but Bellini's operas are the most beautiful.

Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848) is a leading composer of the bel canto style.

There is no more moving moment in opera than the long-awaited love duet.

Greek mythology, with its timeless themes of love, heroism, and the divine, has inspired composers to write operas throughout the centuries.

A villain or a buffoon? What is the rarest and lowest voice type?

Shakespeare’s plays have been a rich source of inspiration for composers throughout history.

OperaVision has teamed up with Mia Mandineau to offer you some brilliant summaries of popular operas streamed on our platform, complete with humour, drawings and quirky references to current events. 

Henry Purcell is arguably England’s finest composer of music for the stage before Benjamin Britten, yet he wrote only one opera.

Czech music is enjoyed on many opera stages. Thanks to collaborations with National Theatres in Brno and Prague, OperaVision has been extending the reach of both well- and little-known Czech music abroad. 

In the beginning of the 20th century, Austrian composer Franz Schreker was one of the only opera composers in the German-speaking world whose success could compete with Richard Strauss.

Potions, spells and transformations... in opera too, witches use every means to achieve their ends.

OperaVision puts love at the heart of its programme in summer 2024.

Bedřich Smetana was the first major Bohemian composer.

History has always fired the imagination of opera composers.